One monk who has decided not to reveal his monk name (he's a friend of mine, so that's the only way I knew he was a monk).

We met at the Rock Bottom Brewery here in Portland, OR and had a great time. I got a little toasty and told some interesting stories about my past that would probably raise a few virtual eyebrows here.

I agree. I had lunch last week with wombat and Tye, which was kind of neat. I was a bit saddened, however, to discover that wombat looks more like the left side of his pic then the right. (I already knew that Tye looked nothing like his home node pic*)

A timely reminder of how easy it can be to meet the person behind the computer. I checked, and there are only two monks anywhere near my location (Sydney, Australia), repson and jepri. However, when I move to Dallas, Texas in a few months, I will have to check out the perl scene there.

True. I was there for a month last September / October. I arrived there in the middle of their longest dry spell on record, during weeks of days with the temperature over 100 degrees - coming straight from a Sydney winter. (Ok, I know that most of you people in the north of the US wouldn't even consider Sydney as having weather that even remotely approaches a true winter, but still . . . )

And then there is the coriolis effect - the water does swirl around in the opposite direction when you flush the toilet.

Meeting people is easy.
The unabomber is a person, and from what i've heard, he used perl to manage his hit list ;)

Anyway, what happened to paranoia?
I haven't so much as bought anything online, much less met in person with someone i met online, and seeing how a number of monks tote guns daily, i'm not sure i'd feel comfortable.

Also a number of monks in my area are underage, if that makes any difference.

I think it's good of you to bring up that meeting
people can be dangerous, but I think caution is more
suitable than paranoia.

Is meeting someone you met online any more dangerous than
meeting someone any other way? Many dangerous people have
jobs; people you meet at work could be dangerous.
Many dangerous people people live near other people.
Better not say hello to your new neighbor. Or maybe you
should--people who feel like outcasts are sometimes
dangerous. I'd suggest not meeting anyone, but dangerous
people can also be total strangers. In short, the
assumption that someone you met online has more potential
to be dangerous is short-sighted. You can meet dangerous
people anywhere.

This is not to say that you shouldn't use some
common sense when meeting people online in not
assuming that you know the person well because you've
conversed with her/him online. But I'm inclined to say
the same goes for any form of human contact.

- kudra, who thinks some people are taking her advice by
avoiding Amsterdam.pm when she attends...